Understanding the United Order

Pulled this from http://ldsdoctrine.blogspot.com/2013/07/united-order.html

makes complete sense to me!!

Understanding the United Order

32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. 

33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. 

34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, 

35 And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. (New Testament, Acts, Acts 4)

We read in the New Testament how the Early Christian Saints lived will all things in common.  We know that something must have happened to this United Order because mainstream Christianity doesn't seem to live this way today.  Christians live the law of tithes and offerings but not this communal living.  

This United Order was attempted in more modern times by the Pilgrims at Jamestown Colony. In fact the failure of the Pilgrims to live this United Order and their reversion to the law of tithing is the Thanksgiving story.  The Early LDS Saints also attempted to live the United Order with measured success and look to reinstitute it more fully in the future in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ.

[the following analogy is not mine but from an LDS friend]

However, if you ask most LDS to define the United Order they will say, "the United Order is a system where if your neighbor is an unskilled janitor (a building engineer is highly skilled labor) and has 14 kids and you are a skilled doctor and have 2 kids then you each give all your money to the bishop and the bishop then redistributes more of the wealth to the unskilled janitor because of his greater need."

Of course, the conservative "personal responsibility" crowd will cry out and say "you mean to tell be that if I sacrifice my whole life to learn a highly skilled trade, that my eternal reward is to labor the rest of my life to continually and unendingly bail out everyone else who carelessly idled their time away, buried their talents, squandered their inheritance, and lived irresponsibly?   Is that my reward and I am supposed to feel the spirit about that?"

Look at Cuba.  When Communism took over, all industry and production stopped.  My father-in-law visits Cuba regularly and says the place is like stepping back in time to 1959 when Castro seized power. Except instead of being frozen in time everything is slowly falling apart into decay and disrepair.  There is no incentive by the people to develop their talents and engage in productive enterprise because they know the Cuban Government will oppose them, persecute them, then seize their wealth and their enterprise for themselves in the name of "redistribution" for the good of all Cubans. 

The United Order is supposed to help me want to consecrate.  I don't see how "involuntary income redistribution" helps me want to consecrate. You can claim a religious-based system is "voluntary" but if my faith community alienates or ostracizes me more not playing by the rules, how is this not coercion?

42 Thou shalt not be idle; for he that is idle shall not eat the bread nor wear the garments of the laborer. (Doctrine and Covenants, Doctrine and Covenants, D&C 42)

Today in church someone made a great comment about needing to be willing and open to rethink a lot of what believe politically and socially. But then he casually equated the LDS Law of Consecration with Communism.  Again, while I think most LDS concept of the United Order fits along the lines of "income re-distribution". I do not think this is a complete view of what the United Order is all about.  But, if all I had to go on was Acts 4:35, I think I would think along these terms as well.  But thankfully the Lord reveals more about His United Order and consecration in the Doctrine and Covenants. 

The United Order is NOT Communism, NOT Socialism, and it is NOT Capitalism either.  Despite what the media says, Capitalism is not free market.  We don't need the unelected crony capitalist to decide and NO I did not vote with my dollars in this rigged system. The United Order recognizes and respects property rights, is 100% voluntary, 100% free enterprise, and 100% Constitutional.

which is a residue to be consecrated unto the bishop, it shall be kept to administer to those who have not, from time to time, that every man who has need may be amply supplied and receive according to his wants. (Doctrine and Covenants, Doctrine and Covenants, D&C 42)

7 Nevertheless, inasmuch as they receive more than is needful for their necessities and their wants, it shall be given into my storehouse; (Doctrine and Covenants, Doctrine and Covenants, D&C 70)

The Doctrine and Covenants clarifies the idea that Christ's Church should care for one another not just according to everyone's needs but according to our wants.  "Wants" has huge implications and is NOT a trivial detail when it comes to understanding consecration and the United Order.

When we talk about the United Order we usually give a sigh and say, "you can't live the United Order in a society with both righteous and evil living together so we will have to wait for a day when God separates the wicked from  the righteous." The reason a mixed community cannot live the United Order is because the takers soon inevitably outnumber the producers. This is exactly what happened in Jamestown Colony leading to its repeated failures until they recognized property rights and reverted to tithing. (everyone wanted to look for gold and no one wanted to produce the food)  This taker/producer mismatch is also currently happening in the now bankrupt Socialist US and European welfare states .

I don't disagree with the idea that a mixed society of righteous and wicked makes consecration difficult, but I do not think it makes it impossible.  First, let me clarify that consecration is the personal commitment  and covenant that an individual makes with God. The United Order is an economic system (eg capitalism, communism, free-enterprise, hunter-gatherer, cottage-barter, Ayn Rand meritocracy, virtue-ocracy, etc) that helps the community to live consecration.  But an individual does't have to live under the United Order to consecrate. The purpose of the United Order is to help people consecrate not make it harder..

I think it is possible to live the United Order with righteous and wicked. In truth, we are all wicked.  If we were all righteous we would all be taken up to heaven like Enoch and Elijah and we wouldn't need to be talking about  economics. In fact, I think like in Enoch's city of Zion, the United Order was the mechanism by which the wicked and righteous  were separated.  

I say, righteous and wicked, but what I mean is willing vs. unwilling.  I suppose in Enoch's Zion, the unwilling voluntarily left and only the willing remained.  The willing through the process of living consecration becoming increasingly sanctified, perfected and holy until they were eventually translated and taken up into heaven. The United Order through Christ separated and then transformed the willing wicked into willing righteous. 

So, how is the United Order supposed to work if it is focused on caring for wants and not just needs?   There is nothing for satisfying than investing in someone and seeing them grow and develop.  On the other hand, there is not anything more discouraging  than  to continually bail someone out just to see them continue the same destructive behavior.  When it comes to the United Order, the program is to not make people dependent on and slaves to the system but lift them up and return them to profitability and self-reliance.  Dependent slavery is Satan's plan not God's.

Going back to the skilled doctor vs. unskilled janitor analogy: if the unskilled janitor has 14 kids, he is going to need to take personal responsibility, get some skills, provide some skilled labor and value to the economy, and then earn some money to provide for those children.  The United Order shouldn't be about endlessly passing out fish to the idle, unskilled, and unproductive but about teaching people how to fish so they can feed themselves and support their families.

In an economy with a traditional apprentice, journeyman, master craftsman system, instead of giving you my fish all the time,  and instead of making you my employee/slave and my dependent.  I would rather make you my apprentice, invest in you and teach you to be a doctor (building engineer) and turn you into my equal, my partner, my colleague, my neighbor, and my friend.  

Then as a doctor or other skilled professional, if you have the desire, and are willing to put in the work and make the sacrifice, you can fish for yourself.  Then you can buy the mansion next to my house and be my neighbor and be wealthy and productive with me.  

When it comes down to it, the spiritual rewards and emotional satisfaction at investing in and seeing someone progress is so much more rewarding than anything else  I could possibly think to buy with that money.

Case in point: A friend shared with me his conversion story and talked about the mighty change he has seen in his own life and how thankful he is to the missionary who sacrificed the time and money to come out from Utah to Georgia to knock on his door and share the gospel with him. We were talking about consecration and I told my friend that I am sure the Elder that taught him enjoyed great satisfaction at seeing his spiritual independence.  I would guess that that missionary considers the time and money he invested in my friend to be worth more than anything else he could possibly think to buy with the money.  

In this spirit of serving each other's wants and needs, both the giver and the receiver get what they really wanted and rejoice together.  On the other hand, In a socialist or communist welfare system, the dependent takers feel entitled to what they take and the producers mourns over what they feel has been unfairly taken.

With a Constitution that teaches a separation between government and religion, providing charity and teaching virtue is the role of religion and not the government.  Therefore government needs to get out of the business of religion.

19 Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God. (Doctrine and Covenants, Doctrine and Covenants, D&C 82)

The LDS Church practices the United Order itself as an institution more according to Acts 4:35. In the LDS Church there are no rich churches and poor churches.  There are only small branches working to grow into a full-seized congregation.  When a congregation is big enough it is divided into 2.  But while my local  congregation may not have the best catered food or entertainment at our Christmas party, the tithing money given at my local church is distributed throughout the world so that LDS members in the Dominican Republic (for example) can attend church in just as nice of a building and have access to a beautiful Temple just like me here in Georgia.

I have been to some fancy parties at other Churches.  But I would rather have hum-drum Christmas parties at my Church and I would rather clean and vacuum my meetinghouse every few months instead of paying for a janitor if it means someone else in can have access to an LDS Temple in Brazil or the Philippines or wherever.

But instead of having to continually subsidize the world, I would rather the 3rd World eventually learn to fish.  Unfortunately, the political atmosphere which is controlled by the US makes this nearly impossible at the moment. So, we will have to continue to pass out the barley loaves and fishes for the time being.

I don't want to claim to understand the United Order.  It's not my job to explain it to anyone.  If it ends up being eternal income redistribution, fine, I'll submit to it with spirit over natural man resolve. This point doesn't affect the testimony I do have that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. But I can't help but think that when the perfect social order is instituted we all will look at each other and say, "there is so much joy here, why didn't we just live this way from the start." 

SUMMARY

I feel we DO have an absolute responsibility to take care of everyone's basic needs regardless of merit or circumstances. It is actually a surprisingly inexpensive endeavor to satisfy basic needs.  However, when it comes to wants, then it becomes an issue of teaching someone to fish.  If they want it enough then there needs to be the freedom of opportunity for them to achieve and obtain what they really desire.

What Does a Currency Collapse Look Like?

What Does a Currency Collapse Look Like?

In Part one of this series, I detailed how this administration has set themselves up to roll out martial law like no other martial law in history. Part one further revealed that the mechanisms needed for hard-core martial law are either active or merely waiting in the wings. All that is needed for unmistakable martial law to be rolled out in its entirety, is for the right trigger event to take place.

Will It Be a False Flag Attack Or a Currency Collapse?

My initial response to that question is, does it really matter? The pattern of societal collapse and subsequent governmental enslavement of the American people will be largely the same whether the precipitating incident is a false flag attack or a currency collapse. For the purpose of simplicity, let us call the precursor event to all-out martial law, a currency collapse.

The Federal Reserve Is the Enemy of Humanity

The Federal Reserve has been bleeding this country to death for exactly one century. What the dollar bought 100 years ago, can only buy three cents of product today. This means that 97% of the value of our currency has gone into the pockets of the Federal Reserve.

I am amazed at the abject ignorance of the American people and that they think the Federal Reserve is actually part of the federal government. As we like to stay in the alternative media, the Federal Reserve is no more federal than Federal Express.

The Dollar Is Diving

The world is running from the dollar. Until recently, our dollar was used as the currency of international trading. Further, the dollar was also the reserve currency for oil. All foreign countries wishing to purchase oil from the Middle East, first had to purchase dollars from the Federal Reserve. After FDR took us off the gold standard during the Great Depression and Richard Nixon finished the task of providing America with a totally Fiat currency, the only backing that our dollar enjoys is that of being the reserve currency for both trading and for oil (i.e. the Petrodollar scam).

The major cause of the present calamity is fractional reserve banking. When the government goes to the private Federal Reserve and asks for one trillion dollars, the federal reserve gets to print one trillion for the government, at interest, and 10 trillion dollars for themselves and to lend out at high interest rates. This inflationary practice erodes the value of your dollar while enriching our Federal Reserve masters. Ultimately, the currency upon which we depend on will be destroyed and life as we know it will be changed forever.

A Changing of the Financial Guard

Today, many important nations are running from the dollar. Countries such as India, China, Iran, Japan, and Australia have signed their own trade agreements and their currency of choice is no longer the dollar!

When the collapse of the dollar occurs, it will literally and figuratively come like a thief in the night, and I do mean overnight!

We are all familiar with the concept of inflation, which is the intentional byproduct of the Federal Reserve.  But I am not just talking inflation, I’m speaking about hyperinflation which is caused by the collapse of the value of the currency resulting in runaway prices. Here are three examples of how quickly a currency collapse can occur when a nation’s money when its money no longer holds it value:

1. In Weimar Germany, from 1922 – 1923, prices  doubled  every three days.

2. In the modern era, in Yugoslavia from 1992-94, witnessed prices doubling every 34 hours.

3. In Zimbabwe, in the two year period from 2007 – 2008, prices doubled  every 25 hours.

History is replete with examples of currency collapses and they typically follow very predictable patterns in which a nation unravels and social chaos, and many times, widespread violence and even genocide becomes part of the national landscape.

What Does a Currency Collapse Look Like?

Generally, when the currency collapses, a stock market crash is right on its heels. Because of the repeal of Glass-Steagall, a banking collapse will immediately occur following the collapse of the stock market. Your life savings will be wiped out. From this point on, the effect cascades like a roaring tsunami racing across the open ocean.

Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy demonstrated that gas stations will be bone dry within two days following a complete collapse. Subsequently, commerce will not move. If you are on vacation like I presently am, you may not make it home. On the second day following a currency collapse, being on the road will be a risky endeavor because of other desperate motorists.

With no available fuel, the grocery and drug stores will be empty within one to three days. There will be no food to be had except for that which is decaying in your refrigerator and that in which you can beg, borrow and steal from your neighbors who will also be begging, borrowing and stealing. If you have an adequate food and water supply, you better have an adequate gun and ammo supply in order to defend your assets. And when will you sleep? The protection of your critical assets is a 24/7 proposition. Therefore, having a cooperative survival plan is critical.

Without gas, people will stop going to work. Corporations will disappear overnight. Hurricane Katrina showed America that the police cannot be expected to stay on the job more than 48-72 hours as they will be home protecting their families and foraging for food and water like everyone else. The emergence of former police gangs will become common in an effort to secure the products which will ensure survival. Therefore, when your home is under attack, there will nobody to call. Everyone will be on their own.

The elderly and the chronically ill will be the first to die. Too old to defend their assets, the elderly will find themselves overpowered as they will make easy preys of opportunity for the roving gangs. The chronically ill will have no way to procure their medication and even if they survive the looting rampage which will follow a currency collapse, these poor souls will perish without access to their life-sustaining prescriptions.

The money in your wallet will be useless. Cell phones will not work. Heating and air conditioning will not work either and depending on the time of year, the environment could prove deadly to untold numbers of people.

Water treatment plants will stop operating for the same reasons that you will not be able to find a cop during this crisis nobody will be manning the water treatment plants. Toilets will back up and diseases will spread like wildfire. Something as simple as toilet paper will become a prized commodity. There will be no trash pickup and more disease will result due to the increased rodent population.

Clean drinking water and hunger will become the dominant motivator in society. Roving bands of looters, turned murderers, will sweep through neighborhoods seeking to obtain these critical elements of survival. Young women will sell themselves for a can of food for their children. Society will see the widespread loss of human dignity and self-respect.

Infanticide and euthanasia of the weak will become common events because there will be decided efforts to reduce the amount of mouths to feed. There will be the stark realization that the lights are not coming back on and the ensuing sense of hopelessness will lead to murder-suicides within families and simple incidences of suicide will be used as a means to escape the horrendous circumstances.

Humanity’s Darkest Hour

There will come a time when all the available animals will be devoured and then there will be only one place to turn to for food. History shows that cannibalism will set in by the beginning of the third week. Extreme hunger will lead to humans hunting humans as an available food supply. This will begin to occur within 15-20 days following the currency collapse.  

The Government’s Version of the Final Solution

If the establishment military has properly planned, they will move into take control but they will not move quickly. The more death there is, the fewer people there will be to control. Government will typically move in with their solutions towards the end of the second week.

The reasons behind the creation of Executive Order 13603 will soon become readily apparent. You will retain ownership over nothing including food, water, guns, ammunition, your house, your car and even yourself. If you survive, you will be conscripted to work in some capacity in a specialty and location not of your choosing. On a positive note following this catastrophe, the debate over the existence of FEMA camps will be quickly determined and your NSA threat matrix score, resulting from their illegal surveillance, will have a lot to do with whether you survive or are executed as an enemy of the state. There is one ironclad thing that you can count on, food and water will be used to control the people following a currency collapse.

Who Will Help Us?

When past currency collapses occur, organizations such as the World Bank, the IMF, the UN and the US have appeared to render their predatory version of help in exchange for control of critical infrastructure and other capital considerations. Because of this aid, more people survived in the impacted areas. However, what happens when the top dog collapses? Who would be able to come and render aid in America? Even in a world disgusted by our imperialistic ways would  offer help, could they? Not under the coming circumstances could anyone offer help because they will be in a worse situation.

In short, there will be nobody riding in to rescue the United States. Despite some rebelling against the dollar, the world is still dependent upon our currency. When the currency collapses it will pull the rest of world down with us. The subsequent collapse of global currencies will indeed constitute a major depopulation event and all the elite have to do is wait it out in places like the tunnels under Denver International Airport.

During this time, Americans will truly discover if there really are FEMA camps and what they will be used for. If people want to eat, they will be enticed to go where food is promised. Although you can count on the above mentioned events transpiring in the event of a currency collapse, what lies ahead is unknown to a large extent because the top dog will not have been economically obliterated in modern history.

Conclusion

Obama is willing to talk about the 17 trillion dollar deficit. However, you never hear the government nor the media discuss the real debt? Our real financial obligations total 240 trillion dollars through programs like social security, Medicare, public pensions and welfare. Subsequently, I want to make one thing abundantly clear; It is not a matter if we are going to have a currency collapse, it is when.  And the when is much sooner than later.  It could happen tomorrow, next month and even next year. We do not have two years left in the American economic engine. A currency collapse is nothing that I look forward to, and people who intend on surviving the event should be in the midst of their preparations.  

 http://thecommonsenseshow.com/2013/07/12/what-does-a-currency-collapse-look-like/

pattern that leads to conversion

Samuel the Lamanite identified five basic elements in becoming converted unto the Lord:
(1) believing in the teachings and prophecies of the holy prophets as they are recorded in the scriptures, 
(2) exercising faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
(3) repenting, 
(4) experiencing a mighty change of heart, and 
(5) becoming “firm and steadfast in the faith” (see Helaman 15:7–8). 
This is the pattern that leads to conversion

The Deganawida Prophecy

There is a very important message to deliver. That message comes from the First Peoples, for unity within the world. There are many messengers of our Grandfather Unequa. Our Creator. They come from all walks of life. There are many who CLAIM to be prophets, but speak untruths. The true prophets do not speak of money, power and greed. They tell of a time when all will come together "under one banner."

The Deganawida Prophesy is ONLY ONE OF MANY of those prophesies. And I'll assure you it has NOTHING to do with money and greed!!! The Deganwida was the great prophet who appeared to the Seneca First Peoples who came across Lake Champlain in a stone boat.

Deganawida taught the Seneca the ways of Peace. The same "Man of Peace" who appeared to the rest of the tribes on Turtle Island, and also the tribes of the Old Testament. He appeared to the Lakota Sioux, bringing the Peace Pipe and teaching the ways of Peace. To the Myans, the Aztecs, the Cherokee. All tribes. He constructed the Articles of Confederation the League of Five Nations while with the Seneca. Then he appointed Hiawatha His disciple and sent him out to convince other nations to make peace among themselves and join together to fight this new peril from the North. The Pale One, man of peace, the Peacemaker, the great Holy Man appeared in many forms to all of the Native Peoples.

The Deganawida is one of those forms. He told the people that they will face a time of great suffering. A time when they will distrust their leaders and the principles of peace and of the Confederation. That a great White Serpent was to come upon their people. For a time it will intermingle with the Indian people and will be accepted by them. They will treat the serpent as a friend. In time, the serpent will become so powerful that it will attempt to destroy the Indians.

The White Serpent is described as choking the life's blood out of the Indian people. Deganwida told them that they will seem to be lost, and that when things look the darkest a Red Serpent the White Serpent. Upon seeing the Red Serpent the White Serpent will be terrified and will release the Indian, who will fall to the ground like a helpless child. Then the White Serpent will turn all its attention to the Red Serpent.

Bewilderment will cause the White Serpent to accept the Red Serpent momentarily. Then the serpents will have a heated argument and begin to fight. The indian will revive and crawl toward the land of the hilly country where he will assemble his people together. They will renew their faith and the priciples that Deganawida had taught them. At the same time there will be a great love and forgiveness come among the Indian peoples for their brothers. At this gathering there will come streams of people from many tribes from all over the country. They will gather in the hilly country and renew their friendship. Deganawida said that they will remain neutral in the fight between the two serpents.

While they are watching the two serpents locked in battle, a great message will come to them that will make them very humble. When they become truly humble, a young leader, an Indian boy, will come to them. He will be a holy man who will be able to see the future- a great prophet. Nobody will know who he is or where he comes from , but he will be given great power and will be heard by thousands. He will give the Indian people guidance and hope. He will instruct them to to go back to their former land. He will be accepted as their leader.

Deganwida said that they will gather in the land of the hilly country beneath the branches of the elm tree and burn tobacco as an offering. They will call upon the Deganawida by name in their darkest hours, and then He will return.

Deganawida said, that , as the young prophet speaks to the Indian, he will be heard by all the people at the same time. Then, while the Indian people are gathered together to watch the fight between the two serpents, a Black Serpent will come up from the sea in the South. He will stand there to rest for a spell, to get his breath, while watching to the North toward the land where the White Serpent and Red Serpent are fighting.

Deganawida said that the battle between the White Serpent and Red Serpent will begin slowly, but then will become so violent that the mountains will crack open, the rivers will boil and the fish will die. He said that there will be no leaves on the trees and no grass. That strange bugs and beetles will crawl from the ground and attack both of the serpents. It will become so hot that the stench of death will cause both serpents to become ill.

Then, as as the boy prophet is watching the fight, the Red Serpent will reach around the back of the White Serpent and pull from the boy's head, a hair, which will be carried toward the South by a great wind into the hands of the Black Serpent. As the Black Serpent studies the hair, it will suddenly turn into a white woman who will tell him things he knows to be true but wants to hear again. When she is finished telling these things to the Black Serpent, he will take her and gently place her on a rock with great love and repect. Then, becoming infuriated by what he has heard, he will head North to join the battle between the Red Serpent and the White Serpent with such speed and fury that he defeats the two battle weary serpents.

When he is done, he will stand on the chest of the White Serpent and boast. He will push out his chest like a conqueror and look around for another serpent to conquer. He will look to the land of the hilly country and see the Indian boy standing there with his arms folded, looking noble, and know that the Indian boy is not the one he should fight. He will next look to the East and will be blinded by a light brighter than the sun. The light will be coming from the East to the West over the water. When the Black Serpent regains his sight, he will become terrified and run back into the sea from which he came. He will jump into the sea and swim away toward the South, never again to return. The White Serpent will revive, see the light, and make a feeble attempt to go toward the light. A remnant of the White Serpent will separate from the rest of the people he represents and make its way toward the hilly country to join the Indian people with a great love like that of a lost brother. The rest of the White Serpent will go into the sea and, dipping under, will be lost from sight for a time.

Then, suddenly, the white Serpent will reappear on top of the water, swimming slowly toward the light. Deganawida said that the White serpent will never again be trouble for the Indian people. The Red Serpent will revive and shiver with great fear when he sees the light. He will crawl to the North and leave a bloody trail. He will never be seen again by the Indian people. Deganawida said that He will be that approaching light and that He will return to His Indian people. When He returns, the Indian people will be a greater nation than they ever were before!

Please..open your heart and your eyes to what is really taking place in our world today. Slow down and listen to all of our relations. Come back to the ways our Creator intended for us to be. The ancient ways. It is all in the elements of our world. That is the key.

It is my prayer as a believing ,faithful, Cherokee woman, that ALL will see and hear what these prophecies are saying. All will come to understand the unity that our Grandfather wishes us to have. Those who refuse to listen will destroy themselves.

I wish you all Good Peace, and that you will hear that small still voice in the inner part of your heart. That voice my brothers and sisters is our GrandFather Creator, and all things we see, touch, taste, smell, and feel. Listen and learn with ALL your senses. As I say...it is in the elements before your eyes..